Military executives and corporate outcomes: Evidence from China

This study investigates the impact of executives' military experience on corporate outcomes in China. We find that firms with military executives take higher financial leverage and underperform their non-military counterparts, although they perform relatively better during periods of industry distress. Our results are robust when using propensity score matching and instrumental variable approaches. Interestingly, military executives in China commit relatively more corporate violations compared to those without military experience. This finding differs to the findings of Benmelech and Frydman (2015) for U.S. military CEOs, where there are clear differences in culture, education background, and ethical behaviours as compared with China. •Chinese military executives underperform their non-military counterparts.•They perform relatively better during periods of industry distress.•They commit relatively more corporate violations.•Culture, education, and ethical behaviours can explain differences to the US.